Tags : friendfeed
Why I’m not in love with the new FriendFeed beta
As we reported August 25, social life streaming platform FriendFeed launched a new beta version of the site, presumably as a test platform prior to full time release. If you’re a FriendFeed user and haven’t tried it yet, you can use the beta version by visiting beta.friendfeed.com
The beta does offer welcomed extras to the FriendFeed experience, such as user grouping for easy access to your favorite FriendFeed users and image hosting. Sharing full FriendFeed feeds is now as easy as clicking on a users account so you see what they are reading, not only what they are sharing.
I’ve tried using it, but I keep ending back at the original FriendFeed. I just can’t love the new FriendFeed beta.
Take the new features aside, and the difference may be a matter of taste around aesthetics and layout. I don’t like the sidebar in the new FriendFeed because it’s not centered on my main visual scope, not helped by a 22″ monitor and a screen resolution to match, so FriendFeed is a wide screen experience for me. I want to easily switch between my Friend’s content, my content and on occasion the everyone feed, and tabs on the original FriendFeed allow me to do that. On the beta version, my feed is buried in the clutter of the sidebar, and I have to think about where the link is every time I go to use it, where as with a tab it’s always front and center and easy to use.
The sidebar itself isn’t visually pleasing, taking up the full length of the page with nothing but gray, where it could be better offered only for the length of the links it provides. It may take FriendFeed towards a more traditional layout, and yet why I use FriendFeed the site today instead of a third party tool is due to the clean, easy to read and follow aesthetic of the site; functional without being pretty perhaps, but it works for me. The introduction of gray in the sidebar and entry point feels slightly cluttered after the minimalism of old.
There’s also the question of customization. My FriendFeed tabs don’t work in the new version because FriendFeed has done away with tabs, although that isn’t necessarily the fault of FriendFeed. And yet we only get a half taste of customization in the new beta, a sidebar that offers a taste of suit yourself, but doesn’t fully embrace it. No doubt that new Greasemonkey scripts will emerge, but FriendFeed should be embracing the concept of FriendFeed as a homepage more, instead of changing things just as the ecosystem around the original page was delivering what FriendFeed wasn’t.
What do you think? What am I missing in the new FriendFeed, feature set aside, which could be easily added to the original FriendFeed. Leave a comment here or on FriendFeed with your thoughts.
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On FriendFeed, this post was liked by 15 people and commented on 15 times hide-
*Liked* for being in the screen capture :-)
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Duncan - I was really hoping for better filtering capabilities. I envisioned a semantic filtering tool where I can fine tune my river of noise with sophisticated ninja like query logic. Also want native SMS API for posting to FF. Mobile is so impt for me and ability to post (1) pics, and (2) TXT/SMS directly from my mobile to FF. SMS is a critical feature for me.
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agree with Duncan, I find the beta confusing and whatever ff has currently is simple and works. Frankly i dont think there was a need for redesign this. Instead FF should focus on adding other useful features.
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I'm curious what other people think about this. We are going through a lot of the feedback this week and deciding our next steps, so please don't hold back.
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Bret, I'm still mistaking the post box for search. I'm sorry I'm an idiot. Could it maybe start as a button, as in the past, and expand to the new configuration?
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Yeah, I REALLY want that to be search right at the top..not sure why.
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all I really care about is filtering, and I still want the option to filter by topic (e.g. hide all McCain). The design is fine—apart from the black name-links, will never get used to that.
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With Chrome, posts and everything are kinda screwed up. Being back on Firefox for this. Standard SMS API-people unite! Mobile now. Even the OperaMini midlet isn't able to stand against the page. ;p
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I share the same thoughts as Krishna Gade above. I prefer the current layout, but I look forward to seeing new features.
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Well you sometimes need a new design to make new features work. Friend lists would never work, without a side-bar, and rooms are on much better display now too. Don't know about the 'Everyone' link. OK, I never used it in the first place, but it's so far down there that I don't see anyone using it.
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It should have more pictures
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I couldn't disagree more with Duncan. The favorites tab now overrides the best of the day / week feature for me. The wasted space on the right hand side is now being used more efficiently. I would say continue with the filtering and UI updates.
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I actually like the new UI. The sidebar makes more sense to me than the tabs. One things that needs to be changed back is the color of the usernames in every item, because they don't look like links to the person's feed. Also the color of the service used, because it looks like plain text when it's also a link. And PLEASE, we need filtering by service, keywords and a place were we can manage these options along with the things we have hiding in the past (services and users).
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I'm really starting to like the Friend lists. Probably have to do another blog post about why that is.
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I'm quite fond of the new look, but I think editing / renaming lists could be a bit more intuitive.
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